ENERGYVILLE - SOLSTHORE: BUILDING THE BATTERY OF THE FUTURE

In the framework of EFRO project 936 "Towards a sustainable energy supply in cities" prof. An Hardy and prof. Marlies Van Bael of the Inorganic and Physical Chemistry IMO-IMOMEC-group, join forces with several leading research labs: imec, VITO and KULeuven, in the Solsthore project.

Prof. Marlies Van Bael: "Energy today is crucial. Research to energy storage is an important part in this story. We have a lot of expertise and knowledge in Flanders, and worldwide we play a prominent role in this field. Within the Solsthore project we get input from several research fields. We can take big steps forward through interacting and cross pollination. We also invested in state-of-the-art equipment to perform the research."

The requirements are high and complex: building a battery that exceeds the current storage capacity. Safety, sustainability and end of life recycling phase are also important in the development.

Prof. An Hardy: "Commercialisability is also an important topic: it must be affordable, easy to produce in big quantities and be as compatible as possible with the current production processes."

the Inorganic and Physical Chemistry group will mainly focus on the chemical part of the research, to develop new materials to construct the battery of the future. With this in mind the researchers want to develop a solid state battery. In this way the disadvantages of the fluid medium of the traditional battery, such as leakage, vaporising and explosion, will be eliminated. A vast challenge!

Seen the location of Energyville in Waterschei-Genk, the researchers hope to anchor the research and production in the Limburg province.